The Other Side of Darkness
by CotS
Summary: Unable to save Devon, Julia has her put into cold sleep, then...


**THE OTHER SIDE OF DARKNESS**

Julia Heller was totally disoriented. An inability to move or see sent her into a mental freefall where she grasped desperately for the stability of the last thing she remembered.

The memory she sought was of Walman and Danziger lifting a comatose Devon Adair into the cryochamber they had prepared for her. As the group's doctor, she had convinced them that Devon was critically ill, her situation desperate. The chamber was an attempt to stabilize Devon's condition until she could discover a cure for their leader's illness.

She watched with a heart heavy with responsibility. The repercussions of failure were overpowering. Pushing aside emotions which always left her uncomfortable, she retreated to the safer world of logic.

They had all recovered swiftly from the illness induced by the council implants. The joy of their victory was short-lived, however. As they were breaking camp, Danziger found Devon collapsed and near death. Julia could only wonder at Devon's motive for keeping her own separate illness a secret. Whatever the reason, the loss of their leader left the group indecisive and looking to Julia for a miracle.

Julia felt Devon's strange sickness had to be somehow connected with the computer virus which had plagued them. One member of the team had died before they were finally able to eradicate the virus. Both people responsible for the virus had also died, and along with them any hope of an answer to her questions.

Uly Adair placed a small wooden walking stick beside his mother's resting place. It was at this point, as she sadly contemplated the scene unfolding before her, that everything vanished.

Now, in the darkness that surrounded her, she became aware of the hum of machinery.

Her pulse jumpstarted with the sound of a voice - Reilly's voice.

Approaching footsteps echoed off a metal floor. She was completely vulnerable, unable to move despite her best efforts. A slight facial movement produced a prickling of skin, clueing her to the fact that her eyes were taped shut. With returning feeling, she became aware of the heavy restraints which bound her. A blanket of monitors and probes covered her head and body, invading, pinching and irritating her skin. Mentally scanning herself, she was not aware of any injury which would justify their use.

Deep inside, she felt a whisper of panic as she realized someone was very close. She flinched as the tape was ripped from her eyes. Her skin burned from the violent separation of adhesive and epidermis. She felt cold fingers remove something which lay on her eyelids, small discs perhaps. Her eyes were forced opened to the glare of ultraviolet light. Liquid flooded her eyes, causing them to burn and itch. She struggled against the bonds which immobilized her. Reilly's voice was controlled, it held no hint of the rambling computer program of EVE.

"Don't struggle, Heller. The restraints are a safety measure. A slip of a wire could have fatal consequences."

His words cautioned her about the futility of resistance.

She lay passively, evaluating her situation. She felt the pull on her temple and scalp as he began to remove electrodes. Her voice was strained, coming from a throat that felt as dry and rough as sandpaper.

"Where am I?"

He laughed, "Where do you think you are?"

The sight had been brief but the sound was too familiar.

"It looks and sounds like VR, but you tell me, Reilly."

He ignored her tone and went about his work.

"Actually, it's way beyond the realm of VR, Julia. Although, I can see why you would think of it as being VR. You were programmed to believe it would be. This is where we met when you reported to me on the Eden Project. As you can see, it's very real."

She forced her eyes open, searching her surroundings. The drops blurred her vision, cutting clarity to a few feet. Reilly looked down on her. He loosened the strap which bound her head to the table, allowing her greater movement to watch him.

"Tell me, what's the last thing you remember?"

She wondered what he would do if she refused to answer. If he was part of EVE, he shouldn't have to ask. He would be monitoring the group's every move. She needed to know just what had happened to herself and the others without jeopardizing them.

"You're not a computer program are you?"

"No, I'm quite human and alive. What I meant was, what was your last memory of the station before the Roanoke left?"

"The station? What's going on Reilly? Where are the others? Why am I hooked to monitors?"

"You're really not in any position to demand answers, Heller, but since we have shared so much, I'll be glad to refresh your memory. Let me see, the first thing you would remember is being on the Advance Ship, preparing Uly Adair for cold sleep. Now why would you be doing that when Dr. Vasquez was solely in charge of Uly?"

His question confused her. Thinking back, she couldn't remember why she was on the Advance Ship prepping Uly. She had been assigned to the Colony ship. Devon Adair would only allow Vasquez to take care of Uly. She felt the first tremor of anxiety as she vainly searched for the reason in a maze of dead-end memories.

He watched her reaction with amusement. "Well?"

Her rendition of events seemed weak, holding nothing more than a growing frustration.

"Dr. Vasquez had gone to the colony ship to see to the other children. Our departure was unexpected. They discovered a bomb planted in OPS so Devon ordered an immediate departure. There wasn't time to notify everyone."

"Ah, yes, the bomb. Still, there was no reason for you to be with the Advance Team. As the most junior member of Vasquez' staff, you would be assigned to the colony ship. As I remember it, Devon put it very accurately when she told Yale you were barely qualified to be Vasquez' intern."

She had overheard the conversation between Devon and Yale by accident. Devon's low opinion of her ability had left her totally humiliated. Julia was thankful no one else had overheard. Except for the three of them, the catwalk was empty. How had Reilly known of the conversation?

"So tell me, Heller, do you remember if you even reported to the colony ship?"

She didn't. She could only remember Devon being upset about her being there instead of Vasquez.

"What kind of game are you playing Reilly?"

He raised his hands defensively and smiled.

"No game, citizen, I'm just trying to answer your questions."

"Then answer me. What happened to the others? Where am I?"

Her blood went cold as he leaned close to answer. A gleam that spoke of madness came into his eyes.

"I gather by the others, you mean Adair and her group of fanatics. They're fine. In fact, they're due to leave in a few days. Although, I'm afraid you won't be joining them. As to where you are, you are where you have always been."

He glanced toward the equipment that still monitored her vital signs. A spike on the pulse and blood pressure readings gave him some satisfaction. He began to toy with her in the sadistic way a cat plays with a mouse, crippling first with a deliberate indifference. Despite the brave front, he could sense how terrified she was and he fed on her fear. He worked slowly, enjoying the fact that he had her complete attention, knowing she was following his every movement with apprehension.

"A month before Eden Project was due to leave, you received a message to report to a council representative to receive your final instructions. A small transmitter would be implanted at that time. You would use this transmitter to report on the Eden Project once you landed on the planet. Do you remember?"

She thought back, remembering how she told Dr. Vasquez that she needed time off to prepare for the trip. "Yes, of course I remember."

"You were sedated to have the implant but instead of the surgical procedure you were bought here."

The *here* he referred to looked the same as the memory she carried of their VR meeting place. A grated metal platform suspended in a sea of pale blue light. The overhead lighting above the table was also a power source. Wires and tubes descended on her like tentacles of some robotic parasite. She could see fluid running through a thick umbilical tubing.

She caught him studying her. He wore his name well - the *Watcher*, her ruthless council contact on G889. His expression was tempered with cruelty. There was no hint of the younger, confused version of EVE's Reilly. She remembered the circumstances of their last meeting. This was the man who accused her of treason, whose last words to her were, "I will find you, Citizen."

"I don't understand. What are you telling me?" She realized her voice was beginning to tremble She was losing control.

"This is the council's newest toy. The Simulation-Interrogation Chamber. We call it SIC for short." The pun always made him smile. "We create an experience by inserting neurotransmitters into the cerebral cortex.'

'Simply put, we manufacture a simulation of an agent's actual mission and monitor the results. An agent's response, to the different situations we create, are a way of testing dedication and resolve. Of course, this is all done without their knowledge or consent, before they are sent out on the real mission. Kind of a loyalty test, if you will. This way there are no surprises. If the subject passes, a short term memory wipe is done, the council is assured of the mission's success and the agent is none the wiser.'

'When you were assigned to monitor the Eden Project, it became my job to create a simulation of the people, the planet and the situations you would encounter. Copying the people involved was easier than coming up with the environment of G889. We have some data which has been transmitted over time from the planet, pictures and reports of some the alien life forms and our experimental additions, the penal colonists and ZEDs. It wasn't necessary to be completely accurate but we wanted everything be as close as possible to what you would actually experience. In fact, it's very possible that if anyone could compare the two, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between G889 and our simulation.'

'Of course, in my simulation, I wanted you with the Advance Team. If you remained with the main colony, I would have been somewhat limited in my creativity. I needed you to be isolated from your singular purpose of caring for the syndrome children. You had to be the only doctor to have access to Uly Adair. He would be the object of your loyalty test. I set the stage, provided the actors, offered a few prompts. It was your own expectations of the planet and what you would encounter that directed the action. You were always free to make your own judgments.'

'Once the simulation was under way, we waited and watched to see where your loyalty would lie. Would you remain faithful to your mission or would you have doubts about the council's motives after having seen some of our more controversial experiments on the planet? Would you do what was required of you without question?'

'To test your resolve, I had to find your weaknesses. I studied your psychological profile, gathered history and used firsthand knowledge about you from your constituents. You could almost say, I know you better then you know yourself, Dr. Heller."

His eyes burned with the intensity of his belief.

"I must say, you were an interesting study, Julia. On the one hand, you were the brilliant chromotilted daughter of one of the most respected members of the Council's Board of Regents. Purposely altered and instructed since birth to become a respected physician, one who would support the council's ideology before the ignorant masses. So, I have to ask myself, what happened? Instead of a logical, loyal and dedicated patriot, I find once on the planet, you refuse to cooperate, follow orders and report critical information.'

'I suspected you would balk when it came to taking a piece of the boy's brain. I could see almost immediately you were allowing your emotions to interfere with what should have been an unquestioned loyalty to the council's goals. In the end, offering yourself in his place may have seemed noble in your eyes but the council saw your lies as a feeble attempt to protect him and the Eden Project. You failed Heller. Worse than that, you committed treason against everything you were taught to believe in and the penalty for treason is death."

He turned and calmly began to deactivate the machinery. The sudden reduction of power produced cramps and spasms to atrophic muscle and tissue. Her body began experiencing extreme physical and mental shocks. Reilly's voice seemed to speak from a great distance and yet his words echoed in her head and pounded her soul with a relentless accuracy.

"The Council was quite disappointed. Because your mother had done such great things, they expected the same from you. They insisted on a complete report. Your treason will reflect badly against your mother."

He let her digest this bit of information before going on. "It really is a shame that you chose to waste your talent. I admired your resourcefulness. While we waited for the council to review my test results, I took the liberty of allowing my assistant to run a few extra simulations, to play with you a bit. I hope you don't mind. Think of it as a donation to science, research for the future."

She closed her eyes, turning away from the assault of his words.

She hid behind a crumbling wall of denial hoping it was all just a bad dream. It couldn't be true, everything had been too real, the people, the beauty of the planet, the awaking of feelings she had never known she possessed. On G889 she had finally found friendship, love and something to believe in. She was staggered at the cost she would pay for the loss of Eden. That is, if all that he said was true.

He watched her closely. With the equipment off, he no longer had the ability to read what went on in her mind. "Are you afraid to die, Julia?" When she wouldn't answer him, he added,

"Maybe your mother will still have enough influence to spare you that. The Council could be lenient and just ship you out with the next batch of penal colonists. We are considering four other planets. We intend to seed them with undesirables and monitor the results for habitability. Devon named her project well. G889 really is an Eden compared to the rest of them."

He was growing bored with her silence. "Well, it seems our time together has come to an end. I'll be leaving shortly to brief Dr. Stern, she'll be taking your place with the Eden Project. Dr. Vasquez has already been informed that you've meet with an unfortunate accident. I will miss you, Citizen."

He removed the last of the restraints. Struggling to rise, she was hit with an immediate wave of vertigo.

He reached to support her. "Easy, Heller."

She raised her arm, blocking his attempt to steady her. "Don't touch me."

His anger at her rejection showed only in a tightening of his lips, a slight thrust of his chin and the coldness in his voice. "As you wish, my assistant will take charge of you and arrange to have security transfer you to a holding cell where you will await the Council's decision on your fate." The sudden defiance in her eyes seemed to amuse him. His tone lightened as he continued. "Be kind to him, Citizen. He's grown quite fond of you, faithfully seeing to your every need during the time you've spent here. Isn't that right?"

She followed the direction of his eyes. The target of his question stepped from the shadows.

She saw Alonzo's face and heard his voice saying, "That's right. I'm afraid I'm going to break your heart after all, Julia."

**-The End-**


End file.
